Page 72 of Fae Reckoning

El’s brows arched. “So you can sense the queen?”

“I can.”

“Where is she now?”

He leaned more heavily against his ranucu friendand closed his eyes. Several breaths later, he announced, “At the palace.”

“Okay.” El was nodding. “That buys us a little time. Not a ton, but enough.” She gnawed at her lip. “I hope, anyway. There’s one last thing I need to try to see if I can get my map to activate again.” Her gaze dragged slowly along my body. When her eyes met mine, her lids were heavy. She licked her lips, and my loins stirred.

Did she mean what I thought she meant? By the holy glorious Ethers, I hoped she did.

“Rush and I will be gone an hour or so,” she announced to the others. “While we’re gone, keep brainstorming. If there’s a goblin, ranucu, parvnit, or any other creature out there who might be able to help us find these poor fae, we need to call on them. And while we’re at it”—she pointed her stare down at Edsel, who was spoon-feeding a male an herbal concoction he could barely hold down—“it’s time to gather whatever army we can. Whoever you think might be willing to fight with us, figure how the dragon’s roar to get them here, and as fast as possible. If not here, they can meet us near the palace.”

She tilted her head up toward the black dragon and appeared to have a silent conversation with him. Then she scanned the rest of us. “I don’t care if the fae is tiny like Zafi or huge like Einar, if they want to fight with us in taking down the queen, we’ll welcome them with open arms, and they’ll have my sincerest gratitude and respect.”

The more my mate spoke, the more I believed her use ofweandourwas becoming that of a ruler referring to her kingdom. Elowyn was becoming the queen the land had chosen before my very eyes.

“The time has arrived for whoever will fight to join us. This is our only chance.”

The certainty of her statement settled into my bones.

“The entirety of the Mirror World depends on our next actions. Let’s make them count.”

“Aye,” Edsel shouted in a fierce grunt. “The goblins will stand with ye.”

El looked to him, then Pru. “Thank you.”

Pru clutched her knobby hands in front of her chest. “I will follow you anywhere … my queen.”

Tears glimmered in El’s eyes. “Thank you, Pru. You’re a true friend.”

The goblin knelt before my mate and bowed her head.

Gobsmacked, I watched El do what Talisa would never, ever do. Awkwardly thanks to the little dragon on her lap, El slid him over to one hip, leaning much of his weight onto the tree stump, and knelt too. She bowed her head back to Pru and repeated, “My friend.”

I watched as, one by one, everyone but the big black dragon and Xeno, still in the trees, bowed to my mate. Even Azariah and Bolt bent a knee to her. Ivar’s steed couldn’t due to his injuries, but he dipped his head in deep reverence, telling me this stallion was as intelligent as Bolt. The ranucu tipped his head. Theparvnit alighted on Pru’s shoulder to bow. Ry, Hiro, West, Roan, Reed, Edsel … even Ivar, everyone who was there and able to move, declared their allegiance right then for my mate.

Every time El and I had discussed her as rightful heir to the throne, she’d been timid to accept her role. Now she beamed at everyone bowing to her. “Thank you, my friends. I promise you I’ll do right by your faith in me. I will rule for all of you, for every fae and creature of this realm. I’ll honor the land with my actions.”

Then the queen—my queen—bowed her head even more deeply.

A sob shuddered through Pru. Saffron whined. Edsel put down his cup of medicine and went to comfort his gran’gobbler, only for his eyes to smart along with hers.

Saffron licked El’s neck as she reached over to me and clasped my hand. I swallowed thickly at the power of this shared experience.

“If I am queen of Embermere, then you are my king,” she said.

“Aye,” my brothers said in unison.

“Aye,” echoed the others.

I gulped. I’d been aware this was where my path might be headed for many years now. Even so, I wasn’t prepared for the surreality of hearingking. “Only if the land chooses me as it has you.”

El smiled at me, as if she already knew with certainty it would—because she had chosen me.

My heart swelled beyond measure at theconfirmation that here she was, after a lifetime of not allowing myself to wish for such a gift:my mate, the one designed to be a perfect match for my essence and no one else.

She was a dream. My dream.

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